I think it is hard to make comparisons because what happened in each of the generations was really different.
PS1/N64/Saturn generation:
Sega was just, I don't know sticking their head up their ass or something (possibly a little like Sony if you want to make comparisons), but Sony at this point has way more of a foothold then Sega ever did as well as an entire media company to support them.
Nintendo alienated third parties with cartridges, which made ports significantly more difficult and FMV's almost impossible. Use of CD's in PS1 enticed companies (including Square) who wanted to release on PC as well. Sony was willing to invest a lot of money to get into the market too (kind of like Microsoft now). Being a Japanese company helped them too (unlike Microsoft).
PS2/Xbox/Gamecube/~Dreamcast generation:
Sega dies.
Nintendo simply could not get together any third-party momentum. At least they changed over to discs.
Microsoft had their shit somewhat together, but it was their first console, and it was released late in the cycle. They came in a respectable second, and were able to carve a niche.
Sony simply had all the cards stacked in their favor, and there wasn't much anyone could do.
This generation in comparison:
Nintendo and third-parties have better, but not the best, third-party relations. The Wii's hardware is too discrepant from the 360/PS3 to do proper ports as well. Nevertheless, the Wii has a lot of momentum. It could increase, it could taper off, simply depends on what happens in the future.
Microsoft has good momentum cause of early start and is easy to develop for. Bad hardware and a lot of other things have made them fall behind the Wii though.
Sony has had a lot of things going wrong with the PS3, but they are getting their shit together. Unlikely at this point that it will pass the Wii, but it is probable that it will pass the 360 cause of EU and Japan.
I predict that things will be split more evenly than the previous generation, something like 45/30/25 when all is said and done.
We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke
It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...." Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson
